Do you think God speaks to us in dreams? by Carol Ford

As I was reading the first and second chapter of Matthew today and I noticed how God spoke to Joseph and the wise men around the time of Jesus’ birth.

Matt 1: 20 ...behold an angel of the Lord, appeared to him in a dream, saying “Joseph, son of David do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”

Matt 2:13 ...an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt and remain there until I tell you....”

Matt 2: 19-20 “....behold, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel....”

To the wise men after their meeting with Herod.

Matt 2:13 And being warned in a dream not to return to Herod, they departed to their own country by another way.

Each of these dreams gave assurance and direction.

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I had a dream like that and I have wondered if it would seem strange to include it in my memoir. My dream happened at a time when I had been reading everything I could find about adoption reunions and searching online for additional information about my birth family. It was a strange, bizarre and emotionally disturbing dream.

In the dream, I was standing in the midst of a crowd of people and a large helmet with curled horns on the top was placed on the ground in front of us. The crowd was told that whoever put on the helmet would be destroyed—killed. No one moved. I felt compelled to step forward. I tentatively put on the helmet. My heart was pounding. But nothing happened.

I woke up abruptly!

“What was that about?” I whispered out loud.

My night clothes were drenched in sweat and I was shaken by the experience.

I couldn’t go back to sleep.

Quietly I slipped out of bed and went to my reading spot in the family room. I picked up my daily devotional and decided to read the previous day’s devotion which I had missed. The scripture at the top of the page was Matthew 25:31-34 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world.’”

The words ‘sheep’ and ‘take your inheritance’ jumped out at me. I had just dreamt of a helmet with horns that resembled those of bighorn sheep; I had stepped into the unknown.  I had risked the consequences. What did this all mean?

Feelings of fear and apprehension had been my companions during those past few months of searching, and I often asked myself, “Should I, or shouldn’t I, take the risk?” Was God using this dream to show me that He knew my fears? Was He offering me reassurance that I should continue to search and “take my inheritance”? I knew it was a stretch, but there in the middle of the night, I claimed the dream and scripture as a sign to continue searching.

I did proceed with my search and a few months after that dream, in a remarkable way, I found my birth family. It happened less than a week after I travelled to the city of my birth.

****

Here is a picture of my grandson reaching to touch the angel. It is a good reminder that we need to be sensitive to God’s leading and presence in our lives. We never know when or how God will speak to us.

You can hop over to this link to read the back story to my first Christmas in my adoptive home. btw did I mention I was born on Christmas Day?

http://hotappleciderbooks.com/the-inside-story-of-my-forever-home/

 I wish you all a blessed and joyful Christmas season.

Day by Day the 'MillieWay' (by Peter Black)

A tiny cottage nestles in the woods on a country road, with little more than the basic services of electricity and a land phone. The lady of the house pretty much takes care of herself and day-to-day chores with a little help from her son, who calls by from time to time to ensure she is OK.

Not Millie's Cottage
Courtesy: Google free

Not only is her home tiny, she’s tiny, too. Obviously frail, she weighs in at well under one hundred pounds. The actual number doesn’t even match her age – ninety-eight! Suggestions that she should move into town don’t receive much of a hearing from her. And her friends’ statements of concern that, “it’s so lonely and remote out here,” don’t gain any traction at all.
  

Millie reminds me that physical frailty doesn’t necessarily equate to either weakness of character or of spirit. This tiny titan has character and spirit in abundance. Her stalwart independence was developed throughout her life’s journey, meeting challenges and disappointments, bereavements and losses along the way.

Not Millie: IStock Photo

However, her independence represents only one side:

~ She lives alone, but is not lonely.

~ She is frail and weak, yet she is strong.

~ Her means are modest, yet she abounds in the richness of contentment.

Here’s the other side: Many decades ago Millie committed her life to the Lord Jesus. He is to her a close and constant companion.

Importantly, she didn’t get stuck on the periphery of the Christian life, but journeyed along that pathway, exercising dependence on God’s grace, growing in faith and in her relationship with the Lord. Reading the biblical scriptures and meditating on their implications and significance for her life, while keeping daily prayer appointments with God and serving others in His name – these have given her sustaining power.

This indomitable soul has faced her todays with gratitude and grace, despite whatever her yesterdays might have brought. And now Millie continues facing her tomorrows in readiness of spirit. She’s homeward bound to be with Jesus, her Lord and Saviour, while continuing house-bound in her tiny cottage in the woods, journeying on into this—another New Year, with hope and peace, joy and love. . . . And contentment.

Contentment – what a great quality!

Hopes, dreams, aspirations and ambitions, and even discontentment might be OK, if well-placed and well-focused; they can occupy an appropriate, beneficial place in our lives.

Of course, unless these desires and motivations are honourable and others-oriented and we go about fulfilling them by honourable means, such urges may consume us with a soul-destroying selfish obsession. Unchecked, they can leave a trail of ruined lives, broken relationships and families, violence and crime and murder, and even become amplified as feuding communities and countries at war.

But this isn’t so with folks like Millie and friends of hers I’ve come to know. Regardless of whether people are financially poor or wealthy, they can be either intensely selfish and discontented, or selfless and truly contented.

Let US journey on into the New Year, balancing contentment and ambition the “Millie way.” It was Apostle Paul’s way, too – content and ambitious at the same time. He says:

“But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that” (1 Timothy 1:6-8 NIV). 

And, “. . . one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13b-14 NIV).

 ~~+~~

 

Peter A. Black lives in Southwestern Ontario. He writes a weekly inspirational newspaper column, P-Pep! and is author of Raise Your Gaze ... Mindful Musings of a Grateful Heart, and Parables from the Pond.
~~+~~

 

 

You're not 'too old'! - Nesdoly

"Thunderstorm" painting by Grandma Moses (1948 - at 88 years).

• My friend Mel started running triathlons shortly before his 60th birthday.

• My cousin Len began studying Punjabi at 77 so he could talk to his neighbours.

• Lucille Broderson wrote her first poem at 60 and had her first poem published, in Poetry Magazine, at  73. At 95 she's still feisty, writing and publishing her prize-winning poems. Here she is reading poetry in her home city of Minneapolis Minnesota

• At 95 Nola Hill Ochs is one of the the oldest people ever to graduate from college. She graduated from Fort Hays State University in Hays Kansas  in 2007 after a career as a student that spanned 33 years (she first enrolled in a correspondence course in 1930). A CBS interview of her shows her with her granddaughter, who graduated with her.

Nola Ochs: "There's a great satisfaction in finishing what you start."

• Grandma Moses (Anna Mary Robertson: September 1860 - December 1961) took up painting at 76, after her arthritis made it too painful to carry on stitching the embroidery pictures she loved to create. In 1938 art collector Louis Caldor discovered her work. An Encyclopedia of World Biography article about her talks about her meteoric rise to fame: Her first one-woman show was held in New York City in 1940 and immediately she became famous. Her second one-woman show, also in New York City, came two years later. By 1943 there was an overwhelming demand for her pictures, partially because her homespun, country scenes brought about wonderful feelings and memories for many people. (See more of her paintings here.)

"Quilting Bee" by Grandma Moses (1950 - at 90 years)

All that to say, whatever your age, don't give "I'm too old" as an excuse for not going after your dreams. 

First published on my personal blog promptings June 19, 2012;  one of a series of weekly Tuesday posts that explores aspects of aging.

******************

Need a break from the 21st century rat-race? Travel to a different time and place via Destiny's Hands, a new novel recently released by Word Alive Press.

Experience Egyptian slavery, the exodus, crossing the Red Sea. Meet Moses, Aaron, Miriam, Hur, and Bezalel.  Eat quail and manna. Drink water from rocks. Live the temptations and questions of wilderness wandering.

Find out what readers are saying and where to purchase HERE. 

Website: www.violetnesdoly.com

Of Dreams and Schemes and Fishy Things - Austin

A rousing discussion took place on the TWG listserve some months back. The key word many of you might remember was "Scanner." The focus looked at the vast range of interests many of us as writers pursue. The book, "Refuse to Choose" by Barbara Sher, suggested that the inability to fix our focus on one thing and stick with that was a strength, rather than a weakness.

According to Barbara there are a number of distinct types of "Scanners." The one I most clearly identify with has a cyclical pattern. I will work at something with an almost addictive compulsion for weeks or even months, then suddenly find myself abhoring that topic for a while. I've learned not to discard the work, because a few months later the compulsion will hit again.

It's the in-between times that bug me. There is something satisfying within the compulsion itself. I can work as much as 20 hours a day and feel energized. But when the pendulum swings, sometimes for days or even weeks, I find myself lost.

Human identiy, especially male identity, ties into occupation. If you listen to men introduce themselves, you will almost always here some reference to their work. 'I'm Brian and I'm a writer.' That identity becomes problematic when weeks go by with scarcely a word written. With one major project completed and in the publisher's hands, a computer full of half developed stories and poems offers more than enough possibilities for focus and attention. But something in me rebels. It is not writer's block exactly, although the results are much the same. It's more a deliberate switching of gears for a time. My wife finds it alarming. She is convinced I sit around the house and dream up ways to spend money. Why did God make wives so insightful?

A unique synergy infuses the relationship between intense fish production and ideal greenhouse crops such as tomatoes and peppers. Fish provide all the nutrients required for optimum crop production in a system that draws from and improves on hydroponics. The crop production in turn, as it draws nutrients from the water, purifies and filters that water in a natural and healthy way, optimizing its quality for the fish. Large volumes of water provide thermal mass to stabilize the temperature in a greenhouse environment, while a new generation of greenhouses use soap bubbles between two layers of plastic to provide as much as R30 insulation value yet still allow passage of light. The soap bubbles themselves are essentially the same as children delight to blow through small rings. By selectively filling cavities between walls, they can allow maximum light through the day and maximum insulation at night. They can also alternate between east and west or north and south walls to take full advantage of the position of the sun as it moves across the sky, while insulating any walls where heat loss is greater than heat gain. And of almost equel importance, the same properties can insulate against excessive heat in the summer.

Since buying my first aquarium at the age of 12, small finny critters have had a place in my life for amost the total of the next 43 years. Always I have tried to keep limits on my spending. But always I have longed for more tanks and bigger tanks. At one time I had so much heated water circulating that the humidity was literally destroying our house. Many times through the years I have dreamed and schemed of ways my fascination with water and fish could managed to carry itself financially, or in a perfect world, actually generate income.

The farm I have done tornado cleanup on since this past August just happens to be a fish farm. A tour of that enterprise one morning proved more than sufficient to get all my desires for fish on a big scale all worked up once again.

Now, drawings litter the table in our family room. Many hours of research have calculated the hydro consumption for pumps and lights. Greenhouses, that typically have an R2 insulation value for double wall plastic (R0.8 for a single layer) can be prohibitively costly to operate through Canadian winters, but suddenly become realistic when R30 is possible. Yet R30 comes at a cost, nearly tripling the installation cost of a greenhouse. With our very small land base, our barn has never been a money maker, yet it figures in all these new dreams and schemes. If I ever become foolish enough (and brow-beat my wife enough) to invest in the cost of transforming our 1.68 acres, that barn would be the starting place. Even now, two fish-farm tanks boast a small collection of koi, with temperatures set at the bare minimum to keep things from freezing.

My wife hopes I'll catch the writing bug again -- soon. Getting rich on writing doesn't look overly promising -- but the half million price tag of my latest scheme (shhhh -- don't tell her how crazy I am) doesn't promise riches any time soon either. And since we have now enjoyed a few months of debt-free living, the idea of a new half-million debt-load just so I can have more and bigger aquariums might prove a hard sell.

Now -- if we were to win the lottery. . ? Not very likely, since we refuse to buy the tickets. But -- someone usually buys a ticket for my birthday each year, so who knows.

Ah, but there is something wonderful and restful about an aquarium. Many a time a fussy toddler has quieted in my arms as we have stood before a tank. My Bible tells me heaven will be better than anything I can ask or imagine. Like most writers, I have a pretty well developed imagination -- so I wonder if there will be something fishy there?

Foolish dreams. They're not such a bad way to bridge this transition time until the itch to write must again be scratched. And if, by chance, you hear strange rumours of a huge aquaculture enterprise going up just south of Durham, Ontario, don't wake me up and spoil the dream. Let me savour it as long as I can.

Grandpa's smallest tank is a perfect height for little people -- and even gets Grandma into the picture.

Foolish Dreams

A $25 cheque launched me. A published writer, I was on the way to fame and fortune.

As publishing credits slowly accumulated my first book went through 40+ rewrites. Every time I learned something new in those early years I reworked the manuscript start to finish. The math alone, that is now condensed to a brief appendix and a few paragraphs scattered through the manuscript, consumed hundreds of hours. I was more addicted to the EAGLE than the main character in the book. It took 32 pages of calculations to plot the first 90 seconds of flight.

Foolish? Undoubtedly. A waste of time? I’ll dare say no. I’ve read more than enough books where I know the subject matter better than the author. Books lose credibility very fast if basic principals of physics are ignored. Because I’ve done the math I know the EAGLE cannot do the loops and flips I dreamed of. Because I’ve done the math I know how painfully slow it accelerates. I know it flies like a bloated whale and never, ever flattens you into the back of your seat. That doesn’t limit my imagination so much as focus it, for the same weight that makes the EAGLE so cumbersome in the air allows it to submerge. Named and modeled after the Eagle Ray, it is in fact a submarine that can just manage to take to the air for brief periods.

I’ve done my homework and the math actually works. Except for the power-plant, the EAGLE uses off-the-shelf technology and elementary physics. It’s not out-of-this-world fiction. In theory at least it is entirely possible.

Foolishness? I won’t argue the point. Thousands of hours have gone into the book. Whole sections, multiple chapters have been written and discarded.

The manuscript reached a certain level of quality, for it was short-listed in 2003 when the first Best New Canadian Author award was launched. I thought it was pretty good at the time, and I confess that I hoped desperately to win.

I have learned so much since. I have been working on the manuscript again. “The story grips my imagination. But the writing doesn’t quite shine.” That’s probably the core of a review I might write if it was another author’s work.

So much time invested and I’m not sure it will ever see publication. A foolish dream perhaps. I think most first novels are. But is there any better way to learn to write a book than by actually sitting down and writing a book? Is there any better way to hone the craft of writing than by putting in the hours, getting words on paper or into a computer file – and then getting feedback – those painful critiques or “Thank you for submitting, but. . .” responses?

I don’t regret the hours invested. It has not been wasted time. I cut my writing teeth on that manuscript. I come to it now with so much more skill as a writer that the weaknesses are painfully obvious. Unfortunately obvious does not mean easily fixed. I’m not at all sorry the book wasn’t published in its earlier form.

Foolish dreams? I’d dare say that is part of every writer’s life. But I’ll keep dreaming.

Author of the Impossible - Guest Blogger

Have you ever had a title of a book jump out at you and beg to be read? Not long ago I was in a bookstore and I noticed a book called "The Dream Giver" by Bruce Wilkinson. The feather on the cover also piqued my interest, perhaps because it reminded me of writing, something I enjoy doing when life doesn’t get in the way.
In the book, a ‘Nobody’ named Ordinary lived in the Land of Familiar. One night Ordinary was visited by the Dream Giver and challenged to pursue a dream that had been dormant for some time.
As I read each page I felt the author was writing about me, about the dream I had tucked away in my heart, something I’d locked away for safe keeping and never drawn out to examine it in all my adult life.

Like Ordinary in the Land of Familiar, I had used excuses why not to pursue my dream. If asked to put into words why I hadn’t started pursuing my dream earlier in my life, I’d have argued I didn’t know what to do or what to say. I lacked the courage to face my personal giants.

My dream was to be a writer but for 35 years I resisted the idea of becoming a writer, doubting my own abilities and not tapping in to God’s. One morning I sat up in bed and let the rays from the early morning sun warm my back. Before my toes met the floor, an inner voice seemed to say, “What are you going to do about your dream?” It was a fleeting thought but one that had been darting in and out of my mind for months. More out of frustration than conviction, I remember saying, "Okay God, I agree, I'll never know until I try." Since then I’ve written six books and several hundred devotionals and inspirational stories.

Too often we are tempted to see the giants in our lives as immovable obstacles but the reason for this may be because we are looking up at an ugly giant instead of looking up to God. We may battle with doubts and wonder how God can ever use what little we have to offer but if we obey His call I believe we’ll discover a marvelous truth – God is the author of the impossible.

Elaine Ingalls Hogg - author, speaker
author@nb.sympatico.ca
http://elainehogg.com/

Books:
From Heaven and Earth (Spring 2008), Joey's Secret Wish (2007), Historic Grand Manan (2007), Christmas in the Maritimes (2006) best seller, When Canada Joined Cape Breton (2005), Remembering Honey - winner of the Marianna Dempster Award

Sharp as a Serpent's Tongue - Harris

I've been trying to cheer myself up, to write a cheerful post. Sorry I can't do it.

It's been hours and my eyes are still smarting. This morning, someone I care about told me I'm wasting my time. That I'm not going to get a book contract. That I won't be successful in my grant proposal. And that being successful 'isn't in the cards', for me. This person was trying to be 'helpful' and prevent me from being disappointed from what they perceived was the inevitable -- failure.

Funny thing, I'm proud of my work. My portfolio is jammed full of published articles. I've written blogs, books and book chapers. I'm starting a new national project next week. And I'm meeting with my local editors about fall projects in the morning.

But, still, in the eyes of my friends and neighbours, I'm just playing. Living a delusion. And need to be set right. "It just aint gonna happen, lady. Can't you see that? Try something else before it's too late."

The thing is I can't see it. I think they are dead wrong. And what they call success, I call drudgery. What they call growing up, I call giving up. What they call delusion, I call dreams.

And most important, writing is what I'm called to do.

So, in the morning, I will be at my computer. Trusting God to give me the words, just as I trust him now to dry up these tears.

As I write, I will try to remember that words have the power to destroy. And the power to give life.

"Let us therefore follow after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith one may edify one another," Romans 14:19

Jane Harris Zsovan writes in both mainstream in Canadian publications about faith, business, arts, and contemporary Canada. She is the author of Stars Appearing: The Galts' Vision of Canada

She contributed "Jessie's Generation: Canada's Firebrands of Mercy and Justice" to Hot Apple Cider: Stories to Warm the Heart and Stir the Soul

She writes Vision of Canada Blog, on contemporary and historical Canada.

Dreams and Realities - Shepherd

What is a mid-life crisis? Is it the time when we recognize that some of our dreams will never become realities? We all have dreams and many times, it is the dreams that motivate us to action in our youth. However, with the advancing years, we come to realize that some of our dreams will never be realized. There may be legitimate reasons for this. Perhaps the dreams truly were impossible, in that we had more dreams that could ever be realized in one lifetime. Perhaps they were subject to the will of other people and thus beyond our control. Perhaps they may yet be realized but we risk losing hope in our awareness of the passing of time. The crisis comes when we become aware that our cherished dreams may not be realized and we must either abandon hope or come to terms with our situation.

What are some of those dreams and what prevents them from becoming realities? Some of our dreams arise out of our career ambitions. When we are young and see the opportunities before us in a chosen profession we dream of climbing the ladder to success in our field. With the passing of time, we discover obstacles in our path. Those in authority may not recognize the value of the projects in which we have invested our energy. Colleagues who are no more competent than we are may be promoted over us, simply because they happened to be in the right place at the right time. We then find ourselves in a situation where further advancement seems unlikely and the reality dawns on us that we are not going to rise to the top of the ladder. How do we come to terms with this?

Other dreams may be in the area of personal development. Perhaps there has been one person for whom we have had tremendous admiration. Our dream and our desire have been to be like that person. This dream can fail to be realized in two ways. We may discover that upon closer inspection this hero or heroine has feet of clay. They are not the person that we thought they were, but have the same human faults and frailties that are common to us all. The dream vanishes as we realize the futility of striving to be like someone no better than we are. On the other hand, we may not become aware of the weaknesses of our hero or heroine, but instead discover that because of our own particular makeup we can never be like this person. They may have a reflective spirit and no matter how much we try, our active spirit is limited in its capacity for reflection. They may be gifted with creative hands that enable them to express their ideas while our capacities are limited to the manipulation of words. Despite our heroic efforts, we will never be the same as the person whom we so much admire, since we have an entirely different makeup. How do we come to terms with this frustration?

Another area where we risk having dreams that may never be realized is in relationships. This is particularly so if we have become parents. Our aspiration is that our children will realize all the dreams we have for them. It might be in the areas of academic or material success, or perhaps in finding security and happiness as we define it for them. Our dreams may also be for spiritual or psychological well-being, as we wish to see them fulfilling their entire potential and becoming all that they can be. This is a domain where we are limited in the impact that we can have upon the realization of these dreams. How do we cope with they fail to materialize?

In order to come to terms with dreams that may never become realities, it seems to me that our own spiritual and psychological well-being will require us to look closely at our dreams and examine why they have not been realized. Then we can decide how we will go on and whether we will discard the dream or allow it to determine our future or allow the process to transform us so that we can accept the situation and continue to live with hope.

For example, let us look at the career dream. We have already mentioned some obvious reasons why the dream of career success may not be realized. There might be other aspects of this situation. Do we really have the capacity required to run the business? Are we willing to devote the amount of time required to make sure that the enterprise remains successful? Are there other priorities in our lives that have become more important to us that our career? To respond negatively to the first two questions and positively to the third one, does not indicate that we are in any way a failure because this dream has not been realized. The dream may have been pushed aside by another dream that has become more important for us. In that case, we can dismiss the dream of career success as the motivation of youth and turn our energies to the achievement of the dream that embodies our passion. To relinquish this career dream will cause a minimum of pain.

The dreams we have had in the area of personal development may be a little more complex. The process of sifting through them in order to determine how we will handle our disappointment at their failure to materialize will require us to know ourselves. This will involve evaluating our particular strengths and weaknesses in order to compare these with those of our hero or heroine. Such a process requires a strong sense of our own identity. The process may push us to deal with the existential questions of life, if we have not successfully done so in our youth. It might be for us a second chance. We can ask ourselves, "Who am I?" "Why am I here?" "Does my life have a purpose?" "Where am I heading?" It is when we ask such questions and sincerely search for the answers that we are able to allow the discoveries we make to transform our lives. Honest questioning will lead us inevitably to God who is the author of the best dreams for us. It is in a relationship with Him, made possible through Jesus Christ that we will realize who we are, why we are here, what our true purpose is and where we are heading. We will discover the only hero who will never deceive or disappoint us. He even enables us to become like Him. It is Jesus Christ. With Him, though all other dreams might fail to become realities, we will always have hope.

The dreams that risk being the most complex are those that we have in the area of relationships. These dreams are not subject only to our own responses, but also to the actions and responses of others. This is particularly true for our children. While they are small, we have a great deal of influence on their choices and can in large measure determine the direction of their lives. However, when they begin to develop independence their future becomes their own and is no longer under our control. Their right to make their own choice means that we risk never seeing our dreams for them realized. How do we handle this? We can apply the same criteria we use in analyzing our own unfulfilled dreams. Do they have the capacities to realize the dreams that we have for them? Are their dreams for themselves the same dreams as we have for them? This is a key question.

However, an even more important question we need to consider is, "What dreams does God have for them?" In recognizing our own purpose in life provided by Jesus Christ, we need to realize that He also has a purpose for their lives. This is confirmed by the Bible in promises like Jeremiah 29: 11. "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." We need to remember that the Lord loves our children even more than we do and that His plans for them are perfect. What then do we do with our dreams for them that are not realized? The best thing that we can do is to present those dreams to the Lord in offering to Him again the children that He has entrusted to us for a short while. The dreams we eventually see realized in them risk being better than the dreams that we have for them. We can trust them to "…He who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine…" Handling unrealized dreams for our children this way, strengthens our hope that is anchored in a certain reality. Discarding the dreams that are not ours to hold on to, can lead to a positive future for us and our children. In addition, we will learn patience as God transforms us into people of hope.

Still Riding That Shiny Red Bike - Harris

I sell my articles and books, but not my paintings or poems.

Those I stuff into boxes. Sometimes I lose them.

The poem I wrote about my red bike might be in a box under the stairs. Or maybe it was lost when I moved. I wrote it about twelve years ago. I haven't seen the text for years.

But I hear it from time to time. The lines still go through my head.

Lines like:
Riding on a shiny red bike too big for her
Hot sticky tar holds her feet to the ground.

And the ending:
She slips her feet of out dime store thongs. (Or, as the 'fashionistas' now insist we say, 'dime store flip-flops.')

The 'bike poem' is supposed to be about who I was when I was nine. But maybe it's about who I am now.

Last week, I convinced myself that I would be cooler running errands on my bike than writing in my office. But, by the time I locked my bike to the rack at the mall, my hair was wet and much curlier than when I left home. And my face? I wouldn't say it was red exactly, just a very deep shade of pink. My over heated look didn't bother me. I was triumphant as I walked past the sedentary, albeit cool looking, layabouts drinking their 'iced whatever's' on the patio. I was on a mission.

A reserved copy of The Canadian Writer's Market was waiting for me inside Chapter's.

Determined not to waste time, I ignored the temptation to treat myself to Starbucks' iced special of the week.

In less than five minutes, I was back outside, unlocking my bike and deciding which errand I
must tackle next. But neither my 'to do list' nor the eye squinting sunlight could stop me from spending another five minutes in the blazing heat looking at my Canadian Writers' Market before I rode out of the mall parking lot.

It wasn't just the marketing opportunities that engrossed me. It was the cover: RED, SHINY AND BIG. Like the first bike I ever chose for myself. When I was nine, I didn't care that I had to stand up to peddle my SHINY, RED, NEW bike. I would be the right size in a year or two. I knew I would grow. And I did.

I grew up to be a writer. And even though it might be more sensible for someone like me, who lives outside Canada's major metopolitan areas, to qive up thinking that her books and articles will ever impact our nation's major news outlets, publishers, or even the public, I keep writing.

I am a writer because I'd rather dream dreams that are too big for me than give them up. And with God's grace, I am learning to slip my feet out of my shoes when I get stuck in the hot tar.

I'm happy to ride on barefoot. I hope you are too.

Jane Harris

www.visionofcanada.com